Russian Foreign Ministry on Syria, Venezuela and Sanctions

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Infested with US/NATO/Turkish supported terrorists, Idlib province a festering sore in Syria.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (MZ below) admitted that the province, including its so-called demilitarized zone, is used as a platform for launching attacks on government forces and civilians - weapons and other material support provided by Washington and its imperial partners.

Shelling and other attacks continue daily, MZ saying "(w)e are alarmed by the reports that the terrorists continue to stage sham chemical weapons attacks against civilians." 

"According to the information available to us, active members of the pseudo-humanitarian White Helmets group have accumulated equipment for shooting footage of such provocations in several Idlib hospitals."

The NYT turned truth on its head, claiming al-Nusra jihadists are "running the province almost liberally," said MZ, adding:

"A leading American newspaper (the NYT) is presenting the terrorists as a constructive force, allegedly capable of restoring order and reducing the level of violence in Idlib."

"(T)he author of the article does not mention the regular shelling of the Syrian government positions. We provided the relevant figures at last week's briefing, but I am willing to repeat them."  

"Over the past five months (since the Putin/Erdogan agreed on demilitarized zone in Idlib), the terrorists…violated the ceasefire over 1,000 times. I would like to remind American journalists and their audiences that the HTS (al Nusra) is on the UN Security Council's list of terrorist organizations and that it has been also recognized as such in the United States."

In various parts of Syria, US supported terrorists continue to kill government forces and civilians, aided by daily Pentagon terror-bombing, responsible for mass slaughter and destruction on the phony pretext of combating ISIS the US supports, along with al-Nusra and other terrorist groups.

Humanitarian conditions in Syria have improved but are still dire in many areas. Thousands of refugees are trapped in the US controlled Rukban camp near the Iraqi and Jordanian borders.

The Pentagon's military base in the area is used to train ISIS and other jihadists, along with using the base as a platform for continuing US aggression in southern Syria.

Commenting on the Trump regime's coup attempt in Venezuela, MZ called conditions "tense."

US-designated puppet interim president Guiado's calls for turnouts at rallies opposing President Maduro are drawing dwindling numbers.

MZ: "The New York Times opened its pages to the current leader of the Venezuelan opposition with his calls to overthrow the legitimate government. He is openly inciting the Venezuelan armed forces to carry out a government coup."

"We see Western sponsors publicly encourage this destructive stance by all possible means. It seems that there are no boundaries for Washington anymore, neither national, nor economic, nor moral…(T)he threat of a large-scale military conflict" is real.

MZ urged Russian allies in the region and elsewhere to oppose the threat of transforming Venezuela into another Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen or Ukraine.

Horrors in these countries can repeat in Venezuela "if the scenario backed by the US" is pushed to the extreme.

Maduro is Venezuela's legitimate president, not usurper Guaido, used by the Trump regime to serve its interests.

Because of veto power by the US, Britain and France, along with pressuring six other countries to back its imperial agenda, the Security Council failed to condemn what's going on.

Instead, the January 26 session amounted to "a rigged trial against the legitimate government of Nicolas Maduro," said MZ - orchestrated by the Trump regime.

MZ called US actions against sovereign Venezuela "intimidation against (its) free people…who have chosen their own path of development and faced political and economic aggression for doing so."

The Trump regime is pulling out all the stops for another imperial trophy by deposing Maduro - short of military intervention so far, retaining it as an option if other tactics fail.

Russian Foreign Ministry "call(ing) on all reasonable forces both within and outside Venezuela to use their efforts to promote de-escalation" falls on deaf ears in Washington and other Western capitals.

The Kremlin needs to step up to the plate with China to help Maduro preserve and protect the hemisphere's most free and open democratic state from Washington's dirty hands.

According to MZ, at least since 1974, "there has not been a single day when some kind of US restrictions weren't imposed on our country" - through sanctions, legislation and other means, flagrantly violating international law.

Yet Vladimir Putin continues to call the US Russia's "partner." MZ referred to "our US colleagues." Republicans and undemocratic Dems consider Russia their top enemy, wanting its government toppled, its resources looted and people exploited.

Diplomatic outreach to Washington is a waste of time and effort. In response to US hostility, Russia should respond with toughness, giving the US a taste of its own medicine, no longer tolerating its actions, the only message it'll understand.

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